. >> in the terms of averting the fiscal cliff, almost every major negotiation and battle as come down to president obama and house speaker john boehner. do you think it helps or hurts that key lawmakers like yourself seem to be left out of this deal making? >> well, i'm in constant consultation with secretary geithner, with the white house, and meeting with congress, and the chairman of the house, meet with reed very off. there's a lot of conversations going on where i gave my views, and learn, and so there are more people involved. >> now this is really coming down to, as is no surprise, the issue of tax rates, will republicans agree to raising tax rates on the wealthy as president obama made clear. are you willing to go over the fiscal cliff if republicans do not agree that that? >> i think if there is no agreement whatsoever, the president has probably no choice but to say, okay, we're going to go over the cliff. that would no be my first preference. my first preference is that as we get closer to the cliff, that we find an agreement that makes some sense, so we don't have to go ov